11.13.2010

Furnish Stories

Last month an article in my daily newspaper caught my eye. It was about a newly formed design company called Design by Leftovers. Together with other artist they give life to old furniture, but the refurbishment does not stop there. To each chair, wardrobe and sideboard they make up a story to go along with it. Meet Lola, the jazz singer from New York, or Charlotte, the shy rider, or Tiffany or Vera or… They call their furniture pre-loved, a term I like a lot!

I wish they had been around when I had my armchairs restored a couple of years ago, because then the design might have become a little more daring than the chocolate brown cloth they are wrapped in now. However, with respect to stories they are full of them since one was bought by me for my first own real home and the other was purchased by my parents for my Grandmother’s last residence, a room at a nursing home.

Not only furniture is remade in this fashion. The song “All by Myself” is for many people associated with the movie “Bridget Jones’s Diaries” (and many think Celine Dion is singing, when in fact it’s Jamie O'Neal). However, for me it brings back memories of my early years when I borrowed my sister’s Eric Carmen record and sang along this tune. My favourite though, was and is Everything. Come to think of it, I don’t think she got it back. And lucky me I can still play it, because I bought an excellent NAD stereo back in the 1980ies when the CD technology was quite new but hadn’t replaced the gramophone record yet. Still going strong. Still loved.